Dan Campbell: Winning 'Takes a Weight Off'

Dan Campbell shares his thoughts following his first victory coaching Detroit Lions.

Winless no more.

After a last-second touchdown pass from Jared Goff to Amon-Ra St. Brown, the Detroit Lions threw their hands in the air and rushed the field. The score cemented their first win, a 29-27 triumph over the Minnesota Vikings.

It’s the first win of the Dan Campbell era. It’s a big step for the first-year head coach, who had sparked fan backlash for his inability to make the correct decisions in tight games.

“I’m happy for our guys, man,” Campbell said. “Of course, I’m happy. I’m happy for the coaches, I’m happy for everybody. But, it’s like you want this so bad for the players, man. Because they’re the ones that put in all the hard work, the sweat, the tears. We all do, and so do the coaches, man. That’s what makes this great. When you lose, it hurts, it’s hard. But, that’s also why winning is so great in this league.”

After a raucous celebration following the game-winning touchdown, he took the podium and spoke with Detroit reporters. With this first win, he shed the weight that comes with being winless in the NFL.

“It takes a weight off because we won,” Campbell said. “We finally got a win, and we’re not, to just be able to win, man, and if you tell me next week, I’m gonna be like, ‘Yeah, cause we won.’ It’s always gonna be a load off when you win, every week. It doesn’t matter where you’re at.”

Raj Mehta, USA TODAY Sports

The players were equally relieved. After going winless in their first 11 games, Detroit finally came through.

“Unbelievable,” said tight end Brock Wright. “Just so proud of the team, proud of the coaches, everyone who works so hard all season and to finally get our first win, it’s an indescribable feeling.”

Campbell spoke highly of his quarterback Jared Goff’s performance. Goff finished with 296 yards passing and three touchdowns. However, two costly fourth-quarter turnovers from Goff allowed the Vikings to re-take the lead late in the game.

Yet, when it mattered most, Goff led the offense down the field, and fired the game-winning strike to St. Brown.

“I thought he did a good job,” Campbell said. “I thought that what was most encouraging was he had a couple of rough plays before that, in the pass game. For him to be able rally back and drive us all the way down and make the game-winning throw and just step in there, stay in the pocket and make some things happen when we needed most, I think (it) says a lot about him.”

“It was as good as you can do it for us offensively,” Goff said of the final drive. “We were able to walk down the field on them and make that play at the end. It came down to one play, and we were able to make it.”

The passing game leapt forward Sunday, as Goff’s passing yards were his highest since a 299-yard effort in Week 4 against the Chicago Bears.

“We’ve tried to really hone in on this pass game a little bit, and trying to get some confidence in him and really make it clear for him and our receivers that, ‘Here’s our vision for it, here’s the look we’re looking for,'” Campbell said. “There again, you play the odds. We’re high probability, this is the look you get, this is where you want to go with it. It doesn’t always work out that way, but a lot of those looks showed up today and some of them didn’t.”

This late rally was caused by a fourth-down failure on Detroit’s previous possession. Facing a fourth-and-1 from its own 28-yard line, Campbell elected to go for it. The result was a Goff fumble, as he couldn’t get the throw away in time and was stripped.

“I felt like I needed to be aggressive a little bit today,” Campbell said. “Just knowing the nature of their offense. I felt like we could get that. It didn’t work out and at least we’re guaranteed to get the ball back, knowing we were already up.”

In all, it was a victorious effort. Campbell and the Lions can exhale and celebrate, because history won’t be made in 2021. 

Dan Campbell's reaction says it all

(via @Lions)pic.twitter.com/ZjVATbjZVs

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) December 5, 2021